The Judgement was delivered by Sri Uttam Kumar Shaw Ld District & Sessions Judge after hearing the last please of the convict by the Ld Sessions Judge where he said that he was attacked by the deceased and he attacked upon Maya Subba to save himself. “Both mother and daughter attacked upon me…Bacchi nay hathyar uthaya tha. Humko Maaf kardijiye” he said. The Ld Court observed that his submission is nothing but his claim of right of self defense, which is contrary to the evidences of the case.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Pranay Rai, the District Public Prosecutor said, “Mercy at this juncture is like panacea of Covid 19, and it cannot hold license to exculpate the dirty minds of the guilty. Here not only a woman has been murdered but also a minor girl child. We equate our daughters as a gift of God and call them Laxmi, Saraswati, we send them to various institutions without disparity with male child for better and promising education and becoming future pillars of our society, ultimately our nation and not to be brutally murdered, without having seen this beautiful life, Justice should be merciless to the perpetrators of Law. There can be no alternative to Hang to Death in such circumstances and give a loud message that Law Exists no matter what adverse situation mankind is facing.”

While the whole world is fighting the pandemic Covid -19, either medically, socially, politically, it is indeed applaudable that despite of this adverse backdrop the Darjeeling Judiciary has not tired in delivering justice and giving a loud message to every member of the society that crime does not pay. It cannot be debated that Crime esp murder and rape has considerably come down since the past 7-8 years at Darjeeling Hills.

STATE VERSUS PADAM SUBBA – CONVICT

In Sessions case No 33/207 corresponding to Sessions Trial No 02/2017/ GR Case No 388/17 ref Pul-Bazar Police Station case No 59/17

On the 2nd Day of September 2017, while the entire Hill was burning with the Gorkhaland movement and the entire hill was undergoing an indefinite strike, the son of the deceased Sri Sumit Limbu, of Upper Gairi Gaon, Naya Nore Gram Panchayat, P.S. Pul Bazar, an army personnel and the complainant of the case, got a call from his uncle one Dambar Subba, inter alia stating that his mother and sister, namely Late Maya Subba, 50 yrs and Late Pragya Subba, 13 years, were murdered by the convict.

It was revealed from the investigation that on the night of September 1, 2017 at about 10:30 PM, while Damber Subba and his wife, Gauri Subba who lived in the approximately 4-5 min walk proximity from the place of occurrence, heard the scream of one of the deceased Pragya Subba. Hearing the screaming sound, they rushed to the house from where the sound was coming and near the house they saw the convict Padam Subba with a torch light in his hands and going towards his house, when they asked but didn’t reply. When they reached the house, they saw Maya Subba lying dead in a pool of blood at the kitchen and had sustained about 6 injuries in her body. Seeing this Gauri Subba became unconscious, being in fear that the assailant would come they fled and took refuge at the house of one Sudip Gurung. After awhile there was a chaos in the village and all gathered and went to the house of the deceased Maya Subba, after diligent search they found the minor girl Pragya Subba, also in a dead condition on a pool of blood and her index finger was also cut through the middle phalanx exposing the bone including 5 injuries on her body.

The convict was arrested the same morning and the weapon of offence “Bamfock” was also recovered from his possession Charge Sheet was filed vide C/S Number 47/17 on the 12th day Of December 2017, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for MURDER.

In total 18 witnesses were examined.

The major argument that took place before Judgement, between the Defense and the Prosecution team, Mr. Pranay Rai, the Dist Public Prosecutor, who stressed that the case came within the ambit of “Rarest of the rare Case” and the accused needed to be hung to death. Presently Death sentence is not preferred by many countries but till moment our Country still have this Death Penalty in Rarest of the Rare Cases. Recommendation of the Law Commission is there to abolish Death Penalty but till date this punishment has not been abolished. Death sentence would be the exception and Imprisonment of Life should be the Rule.

It was further observed by the Ld Dist & Sessions Judge that according to penology only capital punishment was the answer as two lives were involved who are no more to see the World for no fault of theirs. If this is not the rarest of rare case, then what would be more rarest of rare case. So this Court is required to see that it is coming within the exception or not. Here the life imprisonment would be inadequate in the fact and circumstances of this case and would not meet the ends of justice. Brutality and inhumanity is present as Child of 13 years old is also not spared. The intention with preplanned and cold blooded murder to helpless victim mother Maya Subba and minor girl child Pragya Subba certainly put the Court to think the bracket of Rarest of the Rarest case.

The Ld Court further observed that the motive for commission of the convicts crime was not clear but the circumstances suggests that there was so much hatred in the mind of the convict. The underlying and land mark judgement of Bachan Singh Vs State of Punjab (1980) 2 SCC 684, , Machhi Singh and other Vs State Of Punjab AIR 1983 SC 957, Shankar Kisanrao Khade Vs State of Maharastra (2013) 5SCC 546, Dhananjay Chaterjee case (1994) SCC220 were few of the cases that was relied upon the Ld Dist & Sessions Court.

Today, Sri Uttam Kumar Shaw, Ld Dist & Sessions Judge, ordered that the accused Padam Subba sentenced to Death by hanging till his death for commission of offence of Murder of both Maya Subba and Pragya Subba, for guilty of the Charges offences punishable under Sec302 of the I.P.C., subject to the confirmation of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta.

COURT:
Mr Uttam Kumar Shaw, Ld District & Sessions Judge, Dist & Sessions Court, Darjeeling.

PROSECUTION:
Mr. Pranay Rai, District Public Prosecutor.

INVESTIGATION:
Mr. Benoy Chettri, Sub Inspector, Pul Bazar P.S. presently Sadar Traffic.

FORENSIC:
Dr Subhradip Bag, Medical Officer, Sadar Hospital Darjeeling.

The post Darjeeling court sentences man to death for Double Murder appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

It was proven that after his brother died, his sister-in-law, Junita Bhujel, had landed the job in place at the Cinchona plantation on compassionate grounds. This had infuriated Surje, and on the night of 03 Feb 2018, Bhujel had slit Junita’s throat and her children Akhrit Bhujel (8)and Atith Bhujel (6).

He had also threatened his parents not to speak of the murders. On the following day, Junita’s sister, Nima Doma Sherpa had filed a police complaint.

Bhujel had been booked under section 302 of Indian Penal Code, said Public Prosecutor, Prem Pradhan who also informed that there were 18 witnesses.

This is the first time that capital punishment has been pronounced, by Kalimpong District and Sessions Court, after it became a district.

In the 85-page order, Sessions Judge Parthasarthi Mukhopadhyay said that men do not kill three animals in one go even in a slaughter house.

The order has been sent to Calcutta High Court for approval, it is learnt.

The post Kalimpong Court Sentences Man to Death appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

On November of 2014, a father was in a rush to go to the temple and told his 11-year-old daughter to hurry. For the father-daughter duo this was an everyday routine, two of them would go to the temple together and head back home. That day, the father had to run errands and the daughter was slightly delayed, so he went ahead. He waited for his daughter to show up at the temple but she didn’t. Around 11 AM when he finally came home, his daughter wasn’t around. When his daughter didn’t come back for the longest time, he started to panic and went around asking. It was almost like his daughter had vanished. A search ensued.

Much later one of the neighbours who had just returned home from work told the searchers, he had seen the daughter playing and the convict S Sharma taking her somewhere.

It was then the police swung into action and arrested S. Sharma, who later confessed to hanging her body. Once the dead body was recovered, it was sent for post-mortem where it was found that she had been brutalized and had been subjected to forceful penetration on her both genital.

A Charge Sheet was filed under Section 173 CrPC under section 364 (Kidnapping), 173(2)(i) (commits rape on a women below 16 yrs) Section 377 (sodomy) 302(Murder) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 6 of the POCSO 2012 (Aggravated Penetrative Assault). Charge was framed on the 23rd Day of March 2016.

In total 20 witnesses were examined. When the sentence was read out by Ld Special Judge Smt. Rupanjana Chakrabati, POCSO Court, Darjeeling in the presence of a large audience, pin drop ensued.

“The convict Sudhama Sharma is sentenced to suffer death for the offense of murder of his sister under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The said convict be hanged by the neck till his death.

The death sentence is subject to confirmation by the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court….” said the judge.

There were no cheers of happiness or celebrations, but the family of the deceased had tears in their eyes. Perhaps their daughter would finally get to rest in peace.

Commenting on the verdict, Public Prosecutor Shri Pranay Rai said, “…I am not sure or if I stand corrected, but this should be one of the first reported case in history of West Bengal Judiciary where a case for murder and aggravated penetrative assault under POCSO has been adjudicated in capital punishment…”

Since the Pocso Act became functional from 2012, more than 150 people have been convicted by the Darjeeling court

The post Darjeeling Court Sentences Man to Death in a Rape and Murder of 11-yr-old Child in Naxalbari appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

A man Nima Sherpa has been accused of murdering his uncle Shahdev Rai (54) of 35 Dhura in Munsong, under Kalimpong district. Shahdev used to live with his wife Kanchimaya Rai in a beautiful home, and their two sons who work in Sikkim, live there.

According to Kanchimaya, for the past nine days Nima Sherpa – a relative, had been staying with them. Shahdev had given Nima Rs 200 to go to Sikkim in the morning. After breakfast, Kanchimaya left to tend to her work in the tea garden, when she returned at 11, she was shocked to see that blood was smeared all over the house. Scared, she called out her husband, but he didn’t respond. When she entered their bedroom, she was horrified at what she saw. There lay the body of her husband covered in blood. She fainted.

When she came around, she called out to her neighbours for help.

Still in a state of shock, she realized that the Almirah in their Puja room had been broken and money along with some jewellery was missing. She told her neighbours that, when one of them recalled seeing Nima from afar, with some sort of package in his hands leaving the house.

The local youths swung into action and started to look for Nima. But he was nowhere to be found.

When police officers OC Deb Ghising and SI Suresh Barailey of Rangpo Police Post, under which Munsong falls, came to investigate, they found that Shahdev had been slashed on the head and neck. They also recovered the murder weapon, which had been thrown a little distance away from home.

Kanchi Maya said that Nima would come and live with them every once in a while, and was aware of what was going on in the house. Since their younger son was scheduled to be married in the next six months, they had cash around Rs 80,000 and a gold ring, which has been looted.

Munsong, Kalimpong: House where the murder happened

[TheDC NewsDesk]

The post Mayhem in Munsong – Murder leaves family devastated appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

With due permission from their Editor-in-Chief Ameet Dhakal, we are rephrasing their reports and summarizing them for the benefit of our readers here.

On September 15^th, an 18-year-old Ganga Maya Tamang, of Rautahat held a press conference at the office of Community Information Network (CIN)–the association of community radio broadcasters–in Lalitpur, wherein she had accused Ram Bahadur Bomjon, known across the world as the “Little Buddha”, of raping her.

According to the report filed by Ameet Dhakal and Shova Sharma [Dhakal and Sharma, here on], “Bomjon’s followers including former minister of state for health Mani Lama refuted the allegation on the spot. “Ganga Maya is lying. She stole Rs 800,000 from the ashram while staying there. She was, therefore, kicked out from the ashram” Lama had claimed.

The mainstream media in Nepal didn’t highlight the complaints made by Ganga Maya, “The press conference did not get space in the mainstream media due to allegations and counter-allegations. Tamang tried to lodge a police complaint but the police handed her over to an organization working for protection of children instead of filing it” write Dhakal and Sharma.

While all other news outlets didn’t show interest, Setopati devoted over three months of their time and efforts to investigate her allegations, Bomjon’s character and the activities going on inside his ashrams. What they found has caused shockwave across Nepal.

Ram Bahadur Bomjon – “Little Buddha”, it turns out, may actually be a murderer, a serial rapist and an extremely violent person.

Ram Bahadur Bomjon who is also known as “Little Buddha.”

Here is the full report from Seto Pati, which we are producing verbatim

“We went to Sarlahi, Rautahat, Makwanpur, Bara, Sindhuli and Nuwakot districts and talked with 25 persons including three nuns, who ran away from Bomjon’s ashram risking their lives, and their family members in these three months.

We talked with one nun, with deteriorating mental health, who left the ashram after suffering sexual exploitation for a long time. There are four persons, who were once his disciples, and have witnessed Bomjon’s misbehavior and violence. We also talked with family members of three nuns who went to his ashram at different times and are missing now.

We also talked with the son of a disciple missing from his ashram and we have talked with Tamang several times totaling almost six hours.

A frightening picture of Bomjon, who lives in the guise of an austere sage, and his ashrams has emerged after all these meetings and discussions.

He is not a sage, and there are no prayers or penance at his ashram. All of that is a façade to show to the visitors coming from outside. He does not have any spiritual knowledge or conscience, nor does he seem to be interested in all that.

He seems to be an ordinary youth with extraordinary sexual appetite. He is a sex monster has sexually exploited not just Tamang but many nuns at his ashram over the years. He has generously used violence to silence the voices raised against him.

At least three nuns who stayed at his ashram are missing. Their disappearance seems suspicious on the basis of statements by their family members and eye witnesses who have seen their harassment at his ashram.

Two eye-witnesses have told Setopati that a disciple was beaten to death on his instruction inside his ashram. The disciple’s son told us that he has not heard of his father who went to Bomjon’s ashram four years ago.

Fifth person missing from Bomzan’s Ashram

Tamang went to Bomjon’s ashram giving up earthly things after her father married second wife following death of her mother who had gone abroad for employment.

Her father was a disciple of Bomjon and she went to the ashram with the blessings of the family. Her father had told her that the guru takes examinations sometimes, and she felt Bomjon was taking one when he started to flirt with her and touch her inappropriately after some time.

She claimed that Bomjon called her out of the kitchen inside the ashram, dragged her into another room and raped her when his wife Deepshikha had gone to Kathmandu.

She saved other younger nuns after her rape and helped them run away from the ashram.

A disciple of Bomjon, who worked for him at the ashram, told Setopati that Bomjon consumes yarsagumba to boost his sex drive. “He consumes yarsagumba to boost his libido. I myself have mixed yarsagumba solution and given it to him to drink,” the disciple claimed.

“Guru’s mobile phone is full of porn videos. I have also watched some of them when he used to give it to me for recharging,” another disciple confided.

Four monks missing from Bomzan’s Ashram

The story of Bomjon, who appeared at the Ratanpuri jungle in Bara as a sage 13-years-ago, is unbelievable. It is astonishing how the state has been unaware about all the sexual exploitation and violence inside his ashrams.

He owns hundreds of bighas of land including the three sprawling ashrams in Sarlahi, Sindhuli and Sindhupalchowk districts. He has so much money that he often uses a helicopter to travel from one ashram to another. He has a Toyota Land Cruiser for personal use.

He had arrived in a carcade of dozens of vehicles for the function organized at Chunikhel of Lalitpur one and half years ago. There were almost three dozens of foreign disciples in that function that ran for many days.

His disciples, who left his ashram many years ago, say he had a few pistols and a rifle, and many swords then. They claim he may have added many weapons to his armory in all these years. He gets the swords made in Kathmandu and keeps them at his ashrams.

Bomjon, in this way, has become not just a threat for the young nuns at his ashram but has become a security challenge even for the state.”

Full video:

FOLLOW UP

Following this report, four families, whose loved ones have gone missing from Bomzan’s Ashram have filed Missing Person’s Report: http://setopati.net/social/136521

Family members of another person missing from Bomzan’s Ashram have also reached out: http://setopati.net/social/136509

Bomzan’s organization has claimed, all allegations are false and seem to be motivated to bring disrepute to the “Little Buddha”: https://setopati.com/politics/172319

[All credits for this story, and the accompanying pics  rest with: Seto Pati and their Journalists: Ameet Dhakal and Shova Sharma who can be reached on twitter at: @ameetdhakal and @SharmaShova respectively.

The post SHOCKING: Murder, Rape, Violence in the Ashram of “Little Buddha” Claimant – Exposes Setopati appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Her friends from the village, who had heard her say,”My father has made my life hell, I fear someday, I may die” were children like her, they did not understand what she meant. The little girl,never got a chance to tell them the whole truth. Most of her friends are in shock.

Kalimpong Police have arrested a 45-years-old from a remote village, on the charges of murdering his own daughter. They were in for a shock, when the culprit confessed to not only murdering his daughter but also repeatedly raping her for the past two years. This grotesque episode of human depravity doesn’t just end there. After murdering her, the father audaciously buried his daughter next to his house, hoping it would cover his crime.

According to sources, the father was a very controlling person. He did not allowed his daughter to mingle with others. If she was delayed by even a few minutes, he would fly into a rage and beat her black and blue. The neighbours also informed the press that, he had treated his wife in the same manner, not being able to handle the brutal treatment his wife had left him roughly two years back.

On the night of the 9th of December, the little girl had been delayed similarly, he mercilessly thrashed her, and later killed her. He then attempted to hide his crime by burying her right next to his house. On the 10th of December, he informed his nephew that his daughter had committed suicide the night before, “so I buried her.”

Shocked, his nephew went to inquire, and when he found the place where the little girl had been buried, he raised an alarm. This brought other people from the village, and gradually the truth unfolded.

When police conducted preliminary interrogation/inquiry at the site of murder, the father told him, in front of the press, how she had threatened to expose his repeatedly raping her, so he killed her.

This incident has left everyone in the village numb, with his own family members now asking for a death sentence for him.

Police have recovered the dead body of the little girl, and have sent it for autopsy. Meanwhile, the culprit was presented at the Kalimpong District Court, and the court has sent him on 7 days of police custody. Cases have been filed against him under sections IPC 302, 201 and POCSO RW Section 6.

………………………………….

We had to refile this news, as the Hon’ble Supreme Court in their Wisdom have issue an order on the 11th of December, 2018 which reads as follows

“No person can print or publish in print, electronic, social media, etc. the name of the victim or even in a remote manner disclose any facts which can lead to the victim being identified and which should make her identity known to the public at large.” Exposing the pic of the father would have amounted to exposing the identity of the daughter, hence we had to remove it

The full judgement can be read here

We thank DK Waiba ji for reminding us of the SC judgement.

[TheDC News Desk]

The post HORRENDOUS: Father Raped 13-Year-Old Daughter for Two Years, Then Murdered Her appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

These places are as far away from each other and as different as possible, but they are similar due to the nature of the crime which shook them to the very foundations, laying bare questions of morality and humanity. All three places, the scene of a gruesome crime involving innocent minors, perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to serve and protect the interests of the people under their care.

The victims at Kathua, Unnao and Darjeeling are all vulnerable minors. Each have been sexually abused by people who were supposed to protect them, people in power, religious heads and police personnel. The story of each victim is heartwrenching, as each have succumbed to the violent attacks in them and the two who have survived in Unnao and Darjeeling will probably never recover from psychological trauma, an aftermath of their ordeals at the hands of these brutal and bestial perpetrators.

However though there were widespread protests which are still on going in different parts of the country for the children of Kathua and Unnao, there has been little done for the victims in Darjeeling. No doubt opinions have been voiced on social media but little response was garnered when #Marg decided to call all public citizens to Divyavani (on 17/3/2018)to express their solidarity and support this victim of a  most heinous crime. Very few came when it was time to file an FIR against the perpetrator and to deliver justice to this little child.

It is about time we all came out of our comfort zones, travelled within the confines of Facebook and WhatsApp and voice our indignation on the streets so that concrete steps may be taken by those in power to bring to book these barbaric predators.

Let’s come together so that what happened in Darjeeling, Kathua and Unnao may never happen again.

Only then can we deliver justice to our innocent young people who believe in us and trust in our protection.

No outrage for Gorkha daughters.

Writes: Kamlesh Rai – is a teacher at St. Teresa’s School, Darjeeling and is associated with MARG

The post In Vogue: Outrage – But Not For Our Own appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

IPC 306 envisages up to 10 years of imprisonment.

The death of Sunanda Tharoor which had rocked India, happened in the Hotel Leela Palace in New Delhi on January 17, 2014. At that time, her husband Tharoor was the Minister of State in Education in UPA-2 Government and was in a tussle with his wife over an alleged affair with a Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

Within two days of the spat with his wife over Twitter, Sunanda was found dead, and after a year in January 2015, the Delhi Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) for murder. From the very first week, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)  wrote several reports reiterating that  Sunanda’s death was unnatural and was due to poison. However, investigation had floundered.

A few hours before her death, Sunanda had declared in Twitter that she will expose Shashi Tharoor for his dirty dealings in the IPL rackets. Even after AIIMS confirmation, the Delhi Police have taken four years to file a charge sheet.

Last year senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and his legal associate Advocate Ishkaran Bhandari filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court. Justice G S Sistani, who heard the initial four hearings came down heavily on Delhi Police and asked them to finish the probe in eight weeks. The Judge also said that next hearing he would look into the IPL related angle in the case and the ED probe details. But surprisingly in the next hearing, the case was shifted to Justice Muralidhar, who on the very first day, without hearing the petitioners, dismissed the case with scathing remarks on the petitioners. Muralidhar’s judgment was considered as a surprise in legal circles and many doubts were aired on the way the petition was dismissed.

Swamy had then filed an appeal in the Supreme Court and Justice Arun Mishra’s Bench directed Delhi Police to file the status report and the case got rejuvenated.

It is learnt that Delhi Police will soon file a charge sheet in Patiala House Court.

[With input from Times Now, OpIndia and Pgrurs]

The post JUST IN: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to be Charged in Wife Sunanda Puskar’s Suspicious Death Case appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.